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Show -N E W S- Spanish Fork B2 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2007 Covering what matters most Players benched by court decision Where's the love? Dons fall to Cavemen on Valentine's Day The Inside Scoop Chad Vest STAFF WRITER Two forks collided on Valentine's night as the Mighty Dons welcomed the visiting Cavemen who were hungry for a region rematch. From the opening tip-off until the last buzzer sounded, American Fork used a highly aggressive style of play as they smothered Don ball-handlers, forcing steals and blocks which led to many scoring opportunities. The Cavemen also benefitted from numerous screen plays which led to open shots. Spanish Fork's sharp-shooters appeared to be missing a beat throughout much of the contest. Many opportunities were lost as the ball couldn't seem to find the net, especially from three-point land. It appeared that the Dons copied the Cavemen game plan during the second half as spectators witnessed an insane number of steals going back and forth. Dallin Naulu gave the Dons a glimpse of hope as he hit a trey from the top of the key to get within two with only 12:50 remaining. But consecutive fouls by the Dons sent American Fork's Jayce Ross to the line where he calmly sank his free-throws to seal the deal. The senior leader captured the hearts of the Caveman faithful by scoring 27 points and leading his team to a 60-54 victory. Both teams struggled and found little offensive production in the first quarter of play. Spanish Fork turned the ball over several times due to a swarming Caveman defense. Zac Clayton provided the Dons' first score of the night with two charity shots and Garrett Johnson hit 2-4 at the line, but the Dons trailed 12-7 at the end of the period. Junior star Matt Gardner went off for the Dons in the second quarter, scoring nine of his 12 points for the night. Backto-back trips to the line for the smoothstroking guard/forward kept it close. American Fork buried a trey to follow, but once again Matt had an answer as he Lane Henderson David Davis / Spanish Fork News ABOVE AND BEYOND: Zac Clayton goes the extra mile for two as Devin Nelson looks on. knocked down a 20-foot rainbow from the corner at the other end. Moments later, Naulu found Gardner cutting to the basket for a pretty finger-roll lay-in. With 1:09 until the half, American Fork took a key timeout after Clayton picked off a pass and drove coast to coast for a lay-up. The bucket gave Spanish Fork their first lead and a big momentum shift with the Scoreboard reading 22-21. The Cavemen coach wisely called his boys over to regroup, and at the end of the half the Dons trailed 23-22. Zac Clayton was consistent on hitting tough inside shots. Mr. Clutch drove inside and hit a nice pull-up jumper to get things rolling. Big man Robles came out fired up as he swiped the ball away from the opponent, but the ball went right back as the visitors continued to play pick-the-Dons'-pocket. Three consecutive treys followed for MEN'S BASKETBALL Dons defeat T-wolves: high for the rebound and the senior standout displayed great power, pulling three his way down low in the men to the floor, including post. At this point spectators himself, with only one hand had to wonder if the visitors' gripping the ball. With just game plan was nothing more over a minute to play in than a Don "hack-attack." the quarter, Matt Gardner Garrett Johnson later faked drove the baseline for a nifty a three-pointer, then drove left handed lay-in, which baseline and jumped "out of gave the Dons an 11 point the building" for a beautiful advantage to end the third bank shot. But the T-wolves quarter. hit clutch shots of their Clayton connected from own as they clawed their downtown twice in the fiway back. At the 2:34 mark nal period with the latter a Coach Bailey called timeout "crowd-pleasing trey" where as Timpanogas had pulled he was found in the corner within six. Spanish Fork then all by his lonesome. Deadly used excellent ball movement Devin Nelson also got in on to control the tempo and at the action as he was down the half the Scoreboard read low for an easy lay-up. Tim38-28 in favor of the Dons. panogos called timeout two different times with under Jason Steenstra continued one minute to go ,but it was to dominate, like he has all to no avail. In the end ,the season long. The Dons' senior Dons' ability to shoot a reforward was found crashing markable 80 percen t from the boards and making the post up position look too easy. the charity stripe sent the He was clutch at knocking Wolves packing. Spanish down several inside shots. Fork's seniors were successOn one play, Jason and three ful in their final home-stand T-Wolf players went sky as Mighty Dons. From DONS • B l the Cavemen, so Coach Bailey called timeout at the 5:31 mark. Gardner got in on the action as he picked one off and wdnt the distance for a lay-up. But American Fork's Ross had an answer for most of the night and once again the Dons found themselves trailing 41-36 to end the third. Gardner's lone trey in the game caused| l ^ e c r o w d to catch fire as this shot locked the score at 41. Spanish Fork put up a valiant effort to give themselves a chanie in the end. The intensity level sky-rocfketed in the Don Dome after a cruciallthree-pointer from Naulu. Desbite having three players in double] figures, the Dons still came out on! the short end due to a cunning CaVemjan attack. Spanish Fork played their final region game,at Pleasant Grove on Wednesday, Feb. 20. SCORING LEADERS PLAYER TEAM POINTS Brad Henderson Triple T Ryan Hall Outback Graphics Aaron Gull 5-9ers Michael Frandsen Darling Distributing Mark Spencer Triple T CoryWilkins AIA Roger Gardner Madison Hoteis Khalil Sikander Slice & Dice Mike Healey Stone Drug Kenton Gulley (vjt. Country Foods Dane Moorman Ajjthenic Concepts Chris Rawle j Outside Betts Kyle Houghton Westland Construction THREE POINT SHARP SHOOTERS PLAYER TEAM Ryan Hall Outback Graphics Mike Healey Stone Drug CoryWilkins j AIA Brad Henderson Triple T Roger Gradner Madison Hotels Dallas Davis SunRoc Aaron Gull 5-9ers Ryan Hopkins Monarch Painting CHRISTOPHER]. TRAPNELL, DDS., MS. ORTHODONTIST 37 36 31 29 29 29 29 28 28 26 25 25 25 TREYS 10 7 7 7 6 5 5 5 Sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. Players, coaches and administration feel the pressure of competition. The need for speed is only matched by the desire to play for a winner. As a result, it is a proven fact that players want to play for good coaches and coaches want to instruct good players. Success is much too often measured by wins and losses rather than good performance. American Leadership Academy girls' basketball team has endured a little adversity during its first year. The adversity has now given way to confusion and heartache as two senior players were ruled ineligible for post-season play. Much of ALA's season has been mired in controversy, and the center of attention was not in the paint but rather from the bench. After a lengthy hearing in 4th District Court a ruling put Brittany Harvey and Lynzee Baxter in the stands. Harvey and Baxter were declared ineligible, leaving the Eagles with just three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior on the roster. To their credit, they rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to down Parowan in the opening round. , The parents of Harvey and Baxter filed a lawsuit in December after losing their appeal to the Utah High School Activities Association. The parents claimed their daughters were not recruited, but transferred for reasons unrelated to sports. Their attorney obtained a temporary restraining order that allowed the girls to play until a hearing and the judge's ruling. Both girls played in the last two basketball games of the regular season. The ruling came just two days before the 2A playoffs. The rule states that a student is ineligible for 12 months after a school transfer solely for athletic reasons. Both girls claimed that they came to ALA not for athletic reasons, but rather to get out of a bad situation. Harvey transferred from Orem and Baxter came from Spanish Fork. Both testified that Coach Dave Houle was not a factor in their transfer decision. Coach Houle is one of the most successful high school coaches to ever blow a whistle. He amassed a total of 68 state championships and seven national titles in five sports. He recently had his educator license suspended for two years by the Utah State Office of Education. Houle is officially on paid administrative leave from American Leadership Academy while he recovers from medical problems. He may still be employed at the Academy because an educator's license is not required to be an administrator at a charter school. He denied ever recruiting the girls and even had to be reminded who Baxter was. He also testified he never coached Harvey on the court at Mountain View. However, Houle's involvement in the administration at ALA casts a shadow of doubt with the UHSAA. Transfers and eligibility It seems to me, we all should make our voice heard and stand tall for the student rather than the rivalry transfers create. With two new high schools,..', soon to open in our area, let's play the game on the field and not in court. are complicated issues that should be investigated, managed and eventually solved by the people who get paid to enforce the rules of fair play. In fact, the UHSAA has an entire handbook of rules regarding prep sports, including who can participate and how. On the hill, there is a current bill, SB81 that would prevent the state's transfer rules from affecting those attending charter schools in the school's first three years of existence. If SB81 became a law, there would be no need for charter school administration to learn or abide by the state's rules regarding transfers or recruiting. We do need a level playing field in high school athletics. It seems to me, we all should make our voice heard and stand tall for the student rather than the rivalry transfers create. With two new high schools soon to open in our area, let's play the game on the field and not in court. 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